Green Lantern Ring - Made of Wood!!

Let me start by saying I am neither a jewelry maker nor a woodworker. I've made jewelry before, and I've worked with wood before, but I definitely don't claim to know a whole lot about either. Anyway...

I made a couple of simple bands out of wood one day and decided to try and kick it up a notch and make something a little more complicated. While thinking about rings I remembered an instructable I've always wanted to do but didn't have the tools or supplies for: How to make a Green Lantern Ring

I've always been a comic fan, and I know more about Green Lantern than most people, but it's never been a series I kept up with. I still think the ring is super cool though so I decided it was perfect for my personal wooden ring challenge.

Here's what I did. Enjoy!

Step 1: Tools and materials

Tools:

Cheap wood carving set
Dremel tool with Workstation and flex extension
Multiple sizes of grinding and sanding bits
Sandpaper - coarse and fine
Sanding block

Materials:

Wood (I buy wood bits by the pound from American Science and Surplus)
Green wood stain (got mine from Ikea)
Wood filler (if you're better at carving then me you won't need this)
Polyurethane
Brushes (unless you use spay polyurethane)

Comments

[FlutterVertigo]

I know more about Green Lantern than most people

Does this include the original GL's weakness? (wood ...discussion of wood rings...)

[jflynn1]

Well, the Golden Age Green Lantern was a magical ring that was had a weakness for wood. The modern Green Lantern held a weakness against the color yellow until a few years ago. As Raj on TBBT pointed out, you could, at one time, take them both out with a number 2 pencil.

[aintMichael]

yeah...so...i...uh....well...umm...

[FlutterVertigo]

Don't worry -- I won't tell. It was too easy to pass up.

[toaignika]

Would aspen be a usable wood for this project? I have an abundance of larger branches in my back yard and don't want the wood to go to waste.

[aintMichael]

to be totally honest, I'm still learning about different types of wood, and what they're best for. At the very least I'd say try it. No harm in having it not work and learning something.

[toaignika]

i tried it and the ring broke in the shaping process.. not sure if it was the wood or because the wood was too green

[korgoth25]

it was probobly a bit of both. I know close to nothing bout wood, but for this a good hard wood or if your like yourself then cut the block out drill a quick ring hole and let it sit for a good week. or to speed it up leave it in the oven at LOW temps, it shkd speed up the (Curing? that the right word?) process

[Waffle2]

Hey I am a big fan of the green lantern. But I am only a kid. So if you can? Maybe make one for me? You dont have to.

[Zombiefly]

I found it ironic that the original green lanterns weakness was wood. Very nice ring though btw To bad agent orange never saw this guide and swapped lanterns rings when he wasn't looking

[ShockValue]

Looks great! You know how ironic it would be if someone made an Alan Scott ring? lol.

[catfan63]

Neat idea- I do work with wood and you did just fine!!

BTW- the last picture looks like you might turning into the Hulk (thumb)!! :⁾

[aintMichael]

THUMB SMASH!!!

[zanzibar_stallion]

Has anyone tried making a simple band with juniper heart wood, willow, mozambique, rosewood, ancient kauri, hawaiian koa, oak, padauk, or winewood??? If you have please let me know how it turned out.

[karin_la]

you can use any wood thats hard enough. the wood must be really dry so it doesn't break or something..

[daiatlus79]

baking on a low heat would help as it would act like a kiln in a way

[daiatlus79]

and as well remember the softness and hardness of certain woods as well, as well as if its fresh the sap and oils...

[aintMichael]

if it's too dry it will crack, it will also swell and split if it gets any moisture in it. at the very least it should have a small amount of oil to keep either of those things from happening.

[zanzibar_stallion]

thanks now I just need the proper tools

[zanzibar_stallion]

Thank-you I really want to make one!!

[daiatlus79]

we need to see more rings.. i will have to try to make a Blue Lantern (Hope) ring.. if anyone else is willing to make the other colors, like: Yellow/Sinestro Corps (Fear) Red Corps (Rage) Orange Corps (Aravice/Greed) Black Corps (Death) Purple/Zamarons (Love) (yes, they have rings now as well) i would list the Indigo (Compassion) but they use staffs but if u wanna make one of those too it would be cool.... then we can have the War of Light! lol :P

[mynameisjonas]

very nice, I made five rings like this. they all turned out great

[FlutterVertigo]

When you're for those who have) at a hardware store, pick up a dowel and ask someone if there's any chance they could lop the end with a saw. IOW, let them do the cutting. When you ask them to help, just make a comment about "I'm cutting them short because I don't need the rest of the dowel." More times than not, they won't charge you for very much and just put the dowel in one of the bins which have all of their other stuff they can. You also could ask them to cut them to slightly different lengths, just so you can experiment. I know more about Green Lantern than most people, If you've got a garage, it might pay off to keep the remainder of the dowel.

[crafty_crayons]

nice but how do u do such a good job with wood???

[aintMichael]

it's easier to do this in wood than a lot of other materials. Thanks

[crafty_crayons]

k :))

[cowscankill]

nice ring! and LOL green thumb...

[WurdBendur]

I'm going to try slicing a piece of a branch. It's just about the right size and already roughly round, which means less work for me.

[Rishnai]

I tried to slice off a piece of a maple branch I had one time for a belt buckle, and it was really more trouble than it was worth. I hope your attempt goes better!

[WurdBendur]

It worked well enough. Because of the structure of the grain, I don't expect it'll be strong enough to hold up to the stress of everyday wearing, but it's just sitting in a drawer anyway.

[Rishnai]

Yeah, if mine had worked I would have glued it to a steel backing plate so my new buckle wouldn't fall apart from wearing it every day. But it fell apart before it was even a buckle, so eh. I'll probably try again. When you tried it, what did you use to cut off your slice of branch, and how fresh was that branch? I've got a lot of various freshnessess of wood, but not enough time to use every cutting implement I have on every one until it works, which was probably my problem in the first place.

[WurdBendur]

I used a Dremel because that's what I had on hand. It was a bit awkward because my cutoff wheel was a little too small. If I had a saw, I would have used that instead. The branch wasn't too fresh. I had found it on the ground, still green, but that was some weeks before I decided to do anything with it. So not really fresh, but not old.

[aintMichael]

That's probably a really good idea. I'd be curious to know how it turns out.

[Kevvixx]

Wow! I'll defiantely have to try this, but without the green lantern symbol. Only because I have been wanting a wooden ring for a while now and now I have the chance to make it myself with my own design. Great Instructable by the way!

[aintMichael]

I have a slidewhow here to that has a couple other designs I did. Check'em out, I'd love to inspire something awesome!

Ring Slideshow

[fullerton.dan]

I like the first ring that is kind of dark, with a light ridge in it. Do you have an instructable on that. Or can you just e-mail me on how to do it? [e-mail]..thanks...

[aintMichael]

It's basically the same as this one, only i used a sharp knife to and cut from the middle to the edge (leaving that ring in the center) and then stained it. The coloring of the light part was an accident, I think it was the oil on my hands that made the stain not set in. I think I explained it somewhere else in these comments. Thanks

[Kevvixx]

yeah I like the 2nd one. I'll make something like that. and also where did you get the wood bit?

[aintMichael]

I buy pieces by the pound from American Science and Surplus.
http://www.sciplus.com/. They're not all the same pieces, but the rest of them are great for all kinds of projects.

[Kevvixx]

I looked on that site but couldn't find them. Could you tell me the item # or give me the direct link please?